One more hand.

Sometimes Mondays are hecka hard.  And sometimes they're really swell.  Yesterday I got dealt a swell one.  Silas took a cat nap in the morning and was very pleasant when he was awake, cooing and chuckling and un-clingy. The only time he cried is when I took a sip of water while nursing him and it went down the wrong pipe and I spit water all over him and myself.  He wasn't really a fan of being spit up on, but neither am I really...oh, how the tables were turned.

We went to two different stores where he just looked around like a little sweetheart, allowing me to walk the aisles of Target for far too long, looking at plenty of things I'm sure I'll need for something someday.  In the afternoon he slept for 3 hours, allowing me to take a little catnap and get some things done around the house.  I feel like there are a bajillion things that need to get done after not being home for 9 days and so it was really nice to do like three of them without also holding a baby.

Do you see the glee emanating from this happy baby? What a blessed mom I am.

You know what I've been wondering?  If human bodies evolve over time based on what we need, why don't women of childbearing age grow a third or fourth arm?  How have we not evolved into octopii? I'd even be alright with an extra hand, really. Quite the visual--an armless hand just sticking out from some new place on the body. I'm not sure where it could go--maybe somewhere near the hip area so that you could use that one hand to balance the babe on your hip while using the other two hands to deal with life.  There really could be some sort of talent show just to show off what you can do while holding a baby, with extra points if the child cannot hold up their own upper body yet.  We have all of these reality TV performance-type shows...I definitely think that loading the dishwasher or making a bed or putting on pants while holding a child who is maybe crying or perhaps just dropped their pacifier or spit up on your shoulder takes the cake as far as talent is concerned. Momma's Got Talent.  and the judges would have to be grandmothers because they've "been there, done that" probably with at least 3 children, which obviously makes them the rockstars who know better than anyone else which momma's are really good at it and which could use a little more practice.  Seriously, though, have you ever tried to put pants on while holding a baby?  That is something designed for two hands. You either decide not to wear pants or leave the button undone. And by not wearing pants I mean put on a skirt, not walk around pantsless.

As you can tell I've been doing a lot of baby-holding, especially last week.  Which is probably why yesterday felt so glorious.  The boy slept during the day and it wasn't on my lap! He slept soundly and peacefully and like a little angel for 3 whole hours in his swing. I got my old Silas baby back! Yes, I was just a little bit excited because by now you understand that I've been doing a whole lotta baby holding in the last week of my life. Don't get me wrong, it's not that I dislike it...I'm just not so interested in training to be an Olymplic gold-medalist in it quite yet.  Not until I grow that extra hand.

~Danielle